5Synonyms found for expletive

Word Origin & History

expletive 1612, originally "a word or phrase serving to fill out a sentence or metrical line," from L.L. expletivus "serving to fill out," from L. explere "fill out," from ex- "out" + plere "to fill" (see plenary). Sense of "exclamation," often in the form of a cuss word, first recorded 1815 in Sir Walter Scott, popularized by edited transcripts of Watergate tapes (mid-1970s), in which expletive deleted replaced Preisdent Nixon's salty expressions.

Example Sentences for expletive

In a final expression of contempt, she ended her speech with an expletive.

And one really cannot want to beat the expletive out of someone else.

Dynasty is a political expletive in a country wary of inherited privilege.

There is doubtless some advantage in the shortness of the lines, which there is little temptation to load with expletive epithets.

Daley cut him off with an expletive, saying he was not interested in polls.

Simonson repeated the order two more times, after which the suspect yelled an expletive and quickly took off in the car.